//------------------------------// // Celestia vs. Nightmare Moon: Analysis // Story: Deadliest Pony // by NightmareDash //------------------------------// Celestia: the Princess of the Day, an alicornian master of magic, and the unquestioned monarch of Equestria! Nightmare Moon: Darkness incarnate, the Queen of the Night, whose very name inspires terror! Who is deadliest? Welcome to Deadliest Pony. I'm your host, Discord. Here in the Fight Club, our weapons experts will be pitting two of the most powerful beings in the universe (barring yours truly) against each other. Princess Celestia, ruler of all ponies and master of the Sun, against Nightmare Moon, the dark queen of legends whose power-hunger is matched only by her bloodlust! They once were sisters, but are now polar opposites: light vs. darkness. Let's meet our teams, and get a little bit of background on our fighters. For the side of Celestia, we have Discord, Celestia's former coltfriend and current mortal enemy. "Princess Celestia was born several millennia ago, one of Equestria's last alicorns. From birth, she had to face the challenge of living in Discord's Equestria. We're talking a world defined by chaos, ponies. It's no oyster." Ahh, those were the good days, folks! "Losing her parents soon after the birth of her sister, Luna, Celestia came of age quickly to defend them both. She grew in magical prowess, and eventually discovered the Elements of Harmony. Using these in tandem with her sister, she banished Discord and restored order to Equestria." Boo! Boo! Anyways, that's enough about my high-school marefriend. Let's talk about her emo sister. Bring on the Nightmare Moon expert. Discord was Nightmare Moon's, umm, ehh, life-coach for her days of evil, and fellow supervillain on the show. By the way, my dense little ponies, if you hadn't already figured it out, I'm the expert for everypony. Hello, god of chaos? Get used to this sultry, seductive voice. ----------------------------------- Author's Note: For stuff in quotes, imagine Discord talking like a scientist, with accompanying pictures of what he talks about. For non-quoted stuff, it's either normal Discord or the voice of the Deadliest Warrior narrator. ----------------------------------- Argh, NightmareDash, quit interrupting my show! Anyways... "Nightmare Moon's history begins several centuries into the co-rulership of Equestria by Celestia and Luna. Luna believed she was not recieving credit for the night she brought, and became jealous of her sister's fame. This jealousy, evolving into hatred, mentally unlocked her full potential, allowing her to recreate herself as the more powerful Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon sought to bring eternal night to Equestria, but was defeated by Celestia and the Elements of Harmony. This defeat reverted her back to Luna, but no sooner had this happened than Celestia used the Elements to banish her to the Moon for a millennia." (sniffle) This is the best part! "This caused Celestia untold centuries of regret, but only fueled Luna's anger. Nightmare Moon returned with a vengeance, and her isolation only worsened her mental instability. A thousand years later, she escaped, captured Celestia, and once again tried to blanket Equestria in eternal night. She was defeated by the Elements again, now wielded by the Mane 6. This time, however, she reverted back into Luna, and has since attempted to return to Equestrian society." Well, now that the boring backstory dump is finished, let's get to the destruction! There are a few categories of tactics we're going to check out: short-range, long-range, special, and X-factors. What do we have in short-range, other me? "Celestia and Nightmare Moon are about equal in strength, but since Nightmare Moon was banished to, well, the moon, Celestia has about a thousand-year leg-up on her in terms of practice. In the perspective of several millennia, however, this doesn't really make a difference. But while Celestia spent the time ruling Equestria, Nightmare Moon had nothing to care about but revenge. This means she's been working out, developing spells, and planning attacks for a thousand years. Remember, Nightmare Moon pretty much is Luna, and has all of her memories and experiences. She and Celestia are basically the same in size, horn length, and wingpower, which are the main elements of hoof-to-hoof combat, but each of them has a special move or two to bring to the table." Celestia brings The Solar Cloak! By charging herself with solar energy, Celestia can form a powerful armor made of pure sunlight. This armor can deflect magical attacks, damage any who contact her, and increase the speed and power of her attacks. However, it requires significant magical stamina to use, and is not very effective in darkness. "The Solar Cloak technique was perfected by Celestia herself after defeating Discord. It can shield her from almost any attack, especially darkness-based ones. It also amplifies her physical abilities, and deals energy damage when the armor strikes something. She passed a weaker version to her student, Twilight Sparkle, which was more based on magical fire than sunlight energy. Essentially, Celestia is invincible when she uses this." But can the Solar Cloak stand up to Nightmare Moon's Horn Stab? Nightmare Moon stabs her magically-sharpened horn into her opponent, then uses dark magic to inject poison into their bloodstream. This poison is potentially fatal if untreated, and difficult to cure with magic. "One of the many changes Luna underwent in becoming Nightmare Moon was that her horn was elongated. Given a thousand years' banishment to prepare, she almost immediately worked on developing this new ability. The Horn Stab is the result. Stabbing another pony with one's horn is a very dirty tactic, taboo in almost all settings. The same can be said of bio-warfare magic. But Nightmare Moon isn't afraid to break the rules. She wants one thing: power, and if she has to play dirty to get it, then that's what she'll do. This tactic was actually used to incapacitate Celestia immediately upon Nightmare Moon's return." Two very powerful magic-based techniques here, one majestic and powerful, the other more under-handed. It really comes down to versatility against poison. Solar Cloak can be both offensive and defensive, but once you've got your enemy poisoned, all you have to do is wait; time is on your side. That, and how much energy it takes both to neutralize the poison and create a Solar Cloak. But that being said, I just can't imagine Nightmare Moon's horn going through that armor. The edge in short-range goes to Solar Cloak! What's in the long-range department, other me? "We have two alicorns here, Discord, so we're talking superior-class magic abilities. That's how the long-range is going to play out. Once again, there are some very unique strategies to look at, beyond the force bolts and energy beams." Celestia uses the Thermal Barrage technique! Celestia forms bullets of pure solar energy by flaring her wings, then launches them forward with a powerful gust. The bullets are low in power, but sheer number makes them a threat to enemies both alone and groups. "During the Zebra Incursion, two millennia ago, Celestia found common attacks ineffective against the multitude of invaders. With that in mind, she developed the Thermal Barrage. The energy bullets did damage to multiple enemies at once, especially useful against armies. She can adjust the spread and targetting of the bullets, widening the range for a broader target, or shrinking it for more concentrated damage. It is a powerful and unpredictable attack, seeing as it's almost impossible to detect or dodge an energy bullet." But Nightmare Moon is ready to strike back, with Nightmare Mist! Nightmare Moon releases her mane as a cloud of ethereal gas, capable of changing size and shifting into almost any shape. The gas can take on several traits, such as sedative, toxic, lighter-than-air, or fire-extinguishing, at Nightmare Moon's choosing. In addition, it can temporarily solidify itself into hard-darkness constructs. Nightmare Moon can also become the gas for quick escape. "When Luna became Nightmare Moon, she became more connected to the power of the night, and this power manifested itself as a new mane. Nightmare Moon can project her mane as a cloud of gas, and control it over long distances. She can also merge with it to become gas. It can expand, contract and reshape itself almost limitlessly. It has split cliffs in two, reshaped an entire section of trees in the Everfree Forest, and can even form solid objects of pure energy. In short, this is the most versatile weapon you have ever seen, my little ponies. Plus, it's scary as hell." You got that right, other me. But let's look at the weapons for their weapon-ness. Thermal Barrage will burn the crap out of you, and I speak from personal experience. It's also adjustable, suited for a wide variety of targets. But Nightmare Mist just does so much: it can suffocate, destroy, slip through cracks, and even create things. It gives Nightmare Moon a lot of options on the battlefield, and having options is the surest way to win. For long-range, the edge goes to Nightmare Mist! Now let's move on to special abilities. "For the special abilities of this battle, we are going to analyze each princess' armies. Celestia commands the Equestrian Royal Guard, and Nightmare Moon the Lunar Guard. These ponies would be the frontline fighters in a battle between Celestia and Nightmare Moon. Both groups have almost identical armor and weapons, so the test is between the ponies themselves. We'll start with the Equestrian Royal Guard." Boy, you have not met stiffer ponies! Not an ounce of fun in any of them! "Following her ascension to the throne, Celestia appointed the best warriors in her revolutionary army to become her personal guard. She took direct command of the group, and gave them law-enforcing power throughout Equestria. Several millennia later, the Guard has evolved into a police force, ever-expanding in number. New recruits are given strenuous physical and mental training, learning every skill they need to enforce the law. They specialize after that, depending on their talents and breed; pegasi may become air patrolstallions, while unicorns can be trained as sentries at the Royal Palace. They are kept up-to-date on cutting-edge spells, flight techniques, and forensic science through Celestia, meaning they are always equipped with the best techniques for their job." But somehow they never are when I show up... "The Lunar Guard is a photo negative of the ERG. It screens members before admission, testing each potential guardstallion rigorously. Only a select few are admitted, and after that, the process intensifies. Each recruit spends two weeks at a training camp deep in the Everfree Forest, where they are drilled every day to become stronger, faster, and smarter. They train in harsh environmental conditions, all kinds of weather, and against simulated versions of every enemy imaginable. They learn paramilitary skills like infiltration, sabotage, psych warfare, and hoove-to-hoove combat. Simply put, by the end of boot camp, they are each deadly weapons in their own right. After this, they are initiated with a magical ritual, darkening their skin and giving them more draconic features, including bat-wings. This ritual was designed by Luna herself, with the changes making the guards stronger and more effective in the night. Throughout their tenure, they train constantly to maintain a physical and mental edge. The Lunar Guard swears loyalty to Luna, as opposed to Equestria, and even after her transformation they followed her leadership. This led to their disbandment a millennia ago, followed by several lone-wolf assassination attempts on Celestia. When Nightmare Moon returned, she did not have time to reform them, but quickly restarted the program after being reverted to Luna. They still maintain their fearsome reputation, making them much like their mistress: the stuff of legends." Watch out guys, we're dealing with some badasses over here! But in all seriousness, the Lunar Guard is bad-ass. But they're just getting back on their hooves after a 1000-year absence. That being said, the Royal Guard isn't that fresh on experience, either, having been beaten in just about every major incursion in the past year. This is like putting the police against the army: police are good for peacetime work, but they can't handle a war. The Lunar Guard prepares for both occasions, and despite their covert status and fewer numbers, they have superior training to make up for it. Couple this with biomagical augmentation, and I really would not want to run into these guys in a back alley at midnight. The edge goes to the Lunar Guard! Our final category is X-Factors, the type of things that can't be measured in a lab. Things like drive, resourcefulness, logistics, and mental stamina. Now, we'll assign numbers, one to one-hundred, to each warrior, based on their skill levels in each area. When we plug these numbers into the simulation, it will reflect them in the final battle. Let's talk about a few of the deciders: Logistics: This is a commander's ability to manage materials and troops to wage war. Nightmare Moon is powerful, but she's been on the moon for a thousand years. Even though she's had enough time to restart the Lunar Guard program, she hasn't had enough time to build a full war machine. Most of Equestria's resources would go to Celestia out of loyalty, and this means both goods and civilians. With an entire kingdom at her command, Princess Celestia has superior logistics, and we gave her an 88, as opposed to Nightmare Moon's 67. Drive: This means a warrior's determination to fight. Nightmare Moon was created by a percieved injustice against Luna by Celestia, and she's probably still holding that grudge. Then her own sister banishes her to the moon, and she has a millennia to brood and let her anger fester. She's going to come down on Celestia with everything she has, for the pure reason of revenge. And I always say that greed and revenge are the two strongest motivators. Celestia may love her kingdom, but that's nothing compared to a spirit of vengeance (see what I did there?) like Nightmare Moon's. Think about it: you've got a thousand years in complete isolation to do nothing but be pissed off and plot your revenge. You're going to get it by any means necessary. We gave Nightmare Moon a 97, and Celestia a 75. Magical Skill: Since we're dealing with two alicorns here, we can talk about how they handle magic. Celestia is probably one of the most skilled magic users in Equestria, having spent generations studying and improving spells. She's studied under some of history's greatest masters, and is even mentoring one now. She literally knows every trick in the book, and she can use each one to its fullest potential. Unfortunately, Nightmare Moon plays outside the book. If for no reason other than sheer boredom, she probably experimented with magic quite a bit on the moon. She's been developing some nasty spells, most of which would be related to darkness and revenge. I wouldn't be surprised to see her pull out something the likes of which Equestria has never seen. Celestia's mastery of conventional magic matches Nightmare Moon's experimental dark arts, and we gave them both a 96. Combat Experience: Wise ponies say that experience is the best teacher. Celestia has a few thousand years of experience under her saddle, facing Chrysalis and the changeling army, mythological beasts like the windigos, and even yours truly! She has also had a battle with Nightmare Moon, emerging victorious. This gives her valuable tactical knowledge, but the same wise ponies would say that one learns more from defeat than victory. Nightmare Moon gained just as much, if not more knowledge from their first battle, and has no doubt made plans to exploit it. But when she was Luna, even during the Celestial Revolution, she was sheltered by Celestia, never having to actively face combat. This means her only real experience is against Celestia and the Mane 6. Because of this, we gave Celestia a small advantage, ranking her at 90 and Nightmare Moon at 82. Now that we have the numbers figured out, we can plug them into the simulator and run the final battle. We'll run it a thousand times, to prevent a lucky hit from deciding things, and average together the data we recieve. This will determine the winner. So, I'll start up the sim, and we'll see you all tomorrow... just kidding. God of chaos means no wait times. So with a little snap, crackle, pop, we can see how this would play out right now. Luna, it's time for a change of character. Celestia, just so you know, this is nothing personal, strictly business. Oh, who am I kidding, this is definitely personal, and I'm gonna enjoy every minute of it! I hope you will too, beloved. Both of you, this is Deadliest Pony, and in the words of my favorite UMvC3 fighter: "Princesses! Welcome... to DIE!!!"